


they say it's not the answer, but i can't carry on

by emmyeccentric



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, La Llorona, TW: Suicide, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-02-06 23:42:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1876920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmyeccentric/pseuds/emmyeccentric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They found her in the early morning, when the chill still made bones creak and breath into lingering ghosts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	they say it's not the answer, but i can't carry on

**Author's Note:**

> OQ Week Day 1: True Love's Kiss
> 
> Okay, so I know I'm a day late to the party. But I just got this idea like an hour ago and had to go through with it.

They found her in the early morning, when the chill still made bones creak and breath into lingering ghosts. She was still wearing her nightclothes in the lake near the palace, Roland clutching her shoulders for dear life, crying for his father. Regina couldn’t hear the little one. Nor could she speak. She could only weep.

A search party was sent out from the palace with the expectation of something dastardly and nefarious, but when they found Regina crying in the icy water, her nightgown clinging to her shaking frame, all thoughts of conspiracy were abandoned.

Robin looked on in horror as he took an almost-blue Roland from Regina’s grasp after Charming dragged her dead weight onto the lakeshore. The boy’s tiny fingers were growing a mottled red from the cold, and rage was causing his father’s face to take on a similar appearance.

“What the _hell_ were you thinking, Regina?” Robin bared his teeth. Just because she was mourning her child, did she have to take the life of another? The two were developing real feelings for one another, or so Robin thought, despite their tenuous façade, and Robin was appalled this was the only way the Queen knew how to squelch any tangible compassion. Damn the Witch. He shook her with a fierce grip, wanting answers. But she didn’t answer. She only wept.

Hours after the warmth of rabbit stew and a father’s embrace had quieted Roland’s tears, Regina’s sobs still bellowed through the palace corridors.  She was refusing food. She wasn’t talking. Her eyes would not open. Her frame, lifeless, except for the infrequent gasps for air she took, was planted face down on her giant bed. Snow was at her side, vigilant and attune to any sort of improvement. She glanced to see her husband at a safe distance.

Snow shook her head. “We need to go find Rumplestiltskin. She’s not well,” Snow nearly yelled as Regina’s whimpers and wracking sobs forbade her usually quiet demeanor, “Look at her eyes, David.” Gently, Snow turned the Regina to face her. Snow pulled the tightly closed lids apart, revealing pupils blown wide with no sign of their usual chocolate brown. David came close, mouth a thin line.

“What makes you think that Rumple’s alive?” David said, placing Regina back to her original position amongst the pillows. Snow sighed, exasperated.

“I don’t think that. I hope. But she’s been crying for 9 hours straight. She won’t eat or even drink water.” The couple’s gaze was jolted towards the door by an urgent voice.

“I think I know what’s wrong,” Belle cried, dusty book in tow.

Minutes later, the other residents of the castle were gathered around the round table, as Belle read from the book in question.

“ _’The Curse of the Crying Woman’,_ known in some realms as ‘La Maldición de La Llorona’ is a curse often used by women who are grieving over lost children as a means of suicide.” Belle’s eyes widened, as the others also donned looks of realization. “Signs include incessant crying and lack of appetite or thirst. The cursed also exhibit the tendency to abduct children with no discernible cause and are attracted to large bodies of water, frequently drowning themselves and the children they may have taken.”

Snow looked towards the ceiling, eyes glassy and frantic. “ _Oh Gods_ ,” her voice broke, “She did this to herself. Because of Henry.”

Robin gulped, and ran a shaking hand quickly through his hair. “Is it curable? I mean are there ingredients we can-“

Belle looked at the man with her usual sympathy. “Regina told me once,” Belle swallowed, “that _any_ curse can be broken with the kiss of True Love.”

Charming sighed. “And Regina’s only true loves are either dead or in another realm.”

Robin stood abruptly, his chair causing a horrible screech throughout the chamber. “I must go to her.”

He ran to Regina’s chambers, eyes growing blurry at the shaking, bawling lump of her body. He mustered all the strength he had to flip her on her back, and hold her in his arms. “Gods please let this work,” he murmured. He rushed forward and pressed his lips to hers, as a bright light seeped throughout the room.

Regina gasped loudly, and began to take in heaving breaths. Robin swayed her in his arms, hands threaded through her hair. As he pressed endless soft kisses to the dark locks, he whispered gentle thanks and “you’re alright’s” to the woman in his embrace.

Suddenly, Regina shifted away and began to speak. “I don’t understand,” she rasped almost silently, her voice hoarse from weeping, “I’m not supposed to be here.”

“You infuriating woman. Don’t _ever_ do that again. Of course you’re supposed to be here.” He wrapped his arms around her once more. “ _This_ is what we’re meant for.”

As the group noticed that the crying had been so unexpectedly soothed, Snow got up and cautiously made her way to Regina’s bedchamber.

She couldn’t help her watery smile when she found the Queen kept so tranquil in the Outlaw’s arms.

**Author's Note:**

> "la llorona" is an actual myth in latin american culture. in puerto rico, they tell us the story of la llorona to keep us from going out too far into the ocean. and it worked, because you'd be damned if you thought i went past ankle-level as a child.


End file.
